Kumamon Bear drifting with flood on August 19 (Picture provided by the interviewee)

Kumamon Bear drifting to Nanbin Road, drawing attention from netizens (Picture provided by the interviewee)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- “Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?” On August 21, a “Kumamoto Bear” Sculpture that suddenly appeared on Nanbin Road, Chongqing became a hot search on the Internet. As the flood receded and the dredging of Chongqing’s main urban areas was under way, the “Kumamoto Bear” Sculpture drifting with the flood near Ciyun Temple on Nanbin Road attracted the public’s attention. It looked lovely, and was looking into the distance. The bear seemed to have a lot of questions in its head, and was dubbed by netizens as “a fantasy drifting of Kumamoto Bear”.

Kumamon Bear before flood (Picture provided by the interviewee)

Where is the “Kumamon Bear” from? It was from Longmenhao Old Street on August 19.

The Kumamoto Bear Sculpture was found on Nanbin Road in front of Ciyun Temple when workers were dredging the road. The adorable bear was soon uploaded to the Internet and its past life was discovered by netizens many of whom enthusiastically created memes for it. In a short time, “a fantasy drifting of Kumamoto Bear in Chongqing” had swept all over the Internet.

After confirmation for several times, the reporter got contact with Ms. Li who is the Property Manager of Longmenhao Old Street. She said that the bear was originally placed in a lane of Longmenhao Old Street. It was about 150kg, and its bottom was originally welded on the ground with screws.

“It was secured firmly. We tied the warning line onto its belly before flood. However, they were washed away by flood together,” Ms. Li said. During the daytime of August 19, the water flooded over Longmenhao Old Street, the Kumamoto Bear Sculpture was washed away by the flood, drifting downstream. Workers were busy in fighting against the flood, so they did not know where the Sculpture was. “We didn't know that it had drifted to Ciyun Temple until we saw the photos online now.”

Kumamon Bear drifting with flood on August 19 (Picture provided by the interviewee)

A view of Kumamon Bear’s back (Picture provided by the interviewee)

Where will the “Kumamon Bear” go? Its “family” is taking it home.

What happened to the Kumamoto Bear Sculpture that had fallen into the mud? A staff member of the Management Committee of Nanbin Road said that the section where the Kumamoto Bear Sculpture was located at has deep mud, and the dredging on that section could begin a little later. The Kumamoto Bear Sculpture is still standing in its original position.

Later, the reporter contacted the operator of Longmenhao Old Street, and informed by the workers that they are on the way to take the Kumamoto Bear Sculpture home. (Translated by Liu Hongyan, Fathom Language Limited)